What to Make of Jon Jones

We were all naive to expect that business would resume like usual in the UFC with the return of Jon Jones looming in less than a week. If you did expect another issue with Jones, well, a tip of the cap to you. If you are unaware, Jon Jones popped for Turinabol yesterday, the same drug that made his KO victory over Daniel Cormier result in a no contest. When I first heard the news, I was ready to jump off the Jon Jones bandwagon for good; I had defended him every step of the way and convinced myself that even after everything he had done and everyone he negatively affected, he deserved another chance. Then, after reading that he failed another test, that was it for me. However, after performing some informal Twitter investigating, I discovered that instances like this Jones one have, in fact, occurred before. As a basketball fan, I re-remembered the Alonzo Trier case (current New York Knick, former Arizona Wildcat), where he had taken some drugs to recover after some kind of motor vehicle accident, and the same illegal drug kept occurring in his system long after the initial ingestion. Examples like this will probably be cited during the press conference on Thursday, if it does not get cancelled for whatever reason. However, why was nothing like this cited on ESPN when Dana White and Jeff Novitzky appeared last night to discuss these shenanigans? As they say, where there is smoke, there is fire, and it appeared that the whole MMA world was ablaze yesterday evening. All of this said, I still maintain a glimmer of hope that Jon Jones is truly innocent with these Turinabol gaffes, but they are highly suspicious and hypocritical at best, and should be career ending at worst. Regardless, Jon Jones’ legacy continues to be a hot topic of debate in MMA circles.

From what I gather, the consensus seems to be that Jon Jones is the either the GOAT, or he is not in the conversation at all. There does not seem to be an in-between when as it pertains to Jones. Dan Hardy brought up an interesting point during his breakdown show that he does for every PPV main event with John Gooden: Hardy posed the question of what does the greatest of all time actually mean? Do we judge him solely off of what he has achieved inside the octagon, or do we have to look at the life and character of Jon Jones as well? And when I mention octagon achievement, that is meant to be taken quite literally. Pretend you know nothing about the guy, and only watch his fights from 5:00 of round one to when the fight ends, and that’s it. If you look it at in that vacuum, considering who he beat, and when and how he beat them, how is he not the greatest fighter we have ever seen?

That premise may sound ridiculous considering the steroid controversies, but consider this: How is Barry Bonds being discussed these days? For those who don’t know, Bonds is the MLB’s all-time leader in home runs but is also a known steroid abuser. I am by no means a baseball guy, but from what I gather, Bonds seems to be mostly accepted as the greatest home run hitter of all time, and he will be making the Hall of Fame sooner rather than later. I should mention that I’ve done no hard research to back that up, but that is the feeling I’ve been getting around baseball these days. The overarching point here is simple: Steroids or not, what Barry Bonds accomplished was incredible, there is no denying that. The issue is, and we may never know the answer, is how much of in impact did illegal drugs have on Bonds during his career? Now, ask yourself the same question about Jon Jones. Unless you are some kind of steroid mastermind and you would like to look at this subjectively, it is a really tough question. Now, if the criteria is not limited to achievements and whatnot, then Jones stands no chance in the GOAT court of public opinion.

If we want to look at the legacy of Jon Jones, all of Jon Jones, this is a completely different conversation, for obvious reasons. The fact that he has had any run-ins at all with USADA is enough to disqualify and delegitimize him to many people, and I certainly understand that. If we’re looking at it that way, then he is simply cannot be mentioned in the same breath as the Cormier’s, Fedor’s, DJ’s, GSP’s, and even Woodley’s of the world. Yes, Tyron Woodley, who is quietly building a terrific resume. The point is that Jon Jones’ legacy is going to appear different depending on what lens you decide to look through. Not everyone’s opinion will be the same, so don’t go berating people online for disagreeing, you animals.

Where I stand on the matter of Jon Jones now is simple. I’ve decided to take a hard stance on the fence, because I don’t know what to think of Jones yet. I feel comfortable on the fence right now because he is still only 31, and he has another huge legacy fight this Saturday, which he should win. Plus, if history has taught us anything, then there is still much more to learn about Jon Jones than we currently know. Until his career is over for good and I feel that have all the necessary information, I’ll wait to give my two cents on Jon Jones. For now, and I’ll leave it at this, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are the two best mixed martial artists of all time.